Good morning! It’s another beautiful How To’sday and today the tutorial is brought to you by the amazingly-clever, Van Nguyen. This time we are treated to a DIY for making your own acrylic color spray. Or, buy color mists at a STEAL here!

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Do It Yourself Acrylic Color Spray/ Mist Tutorial

I will admit. Ever since the birth of color sprays on the market, I have been obsessed. Don’t get me wrong, I have my fair share of glimmer mists. I probably have more than I will ever need. But I’m far from being a “bling” kind of girl and the idea of spraying paint without all the sparkle seems a bit more my style. Unfortunately, those darn sprays never seem to go on sale and I was determined to create my own acrylic spray some how.

Thanks to the genius of Google and YouTube, I realized that the basic “recipe” for DIY acrylic color spray was some combination of water and acrylic paint. Some people suggested adding rubbing alcohol while others added modge podge. Ultimately, for me to tell you how much of this and that is needed to make a spray is like telling someone how much cream or sugar to put (or not put) in their coffee. But I can tell you how I take my morning coffee – with lots of cream and sugar…

Step 1. Find acrylic paint. I’m sure any type of acrylic paint will work. I bought a cheap variety pack from WalMart for about $6.

Step 2. Find a mini spray bottle. I bought this one in a pack of three for $1 at the local dollar store. I generally see them sold for around $1 a bottle at Target or WalMart.

Step 3. Fill mini spray bottle about 1/4 full of water.

Step 4. Add rubbing alcohol to the mini spray bottle so that the mini spray bottle is about 1/2 full of liquid.

Step 5. Add acrylic paint to the mini spray bottle. This is where you need to decide how dark you want your color mist. I personally like a bold and bright color so I added the entire tube of acrylic paint (which in this case was about 0.4 US fl. oz). But remember, just like when you add sugar to your coffee, it’s much easier to add more as needed than to dilute after the fact.

Step 6. Vigorously shake your bottle to evenly mix the paint into the liquid. Then…VOILA! You have a bottle of homemade acrylic color mist for a fraction of the price of the name brand stuff.

So here is a photo of the homemade acrylic color spray compared to the October Afternoon Sprinklers.

There are some key differences which I think are worth pointing out.

First, the spray coverage on the homemade acrylic color spray is not as even as the OA Sprinklers. Some websites and tutorials attribute this to the type of spray bottle you use. Specifically, I’ve seen suggestions that using using a mini mister (like the one made by Ranger) might provide a more even coverage. I don’t have any mini misters so I can’t comment on whether that would solve the problem.

Second (and this is pure speculation based on absolutely zero science), but I suspect that the weight of the acrylic paint might impact the spray coverage. DIY glimmer mist tutorials use stamp reinkers in lieu of acrylic paint. Again, I don’t have any reinkers to make the comparison but I think that would certainly be worth a try. However, here is a photo of some purple acrylic color spray I made using a lot less acrylic paint and more water and I think it does provide a bit more coverage (albeit a less vibrant color).

And finally, the OA Sprinklers provide a very matte finish that doesn’t warp the paper (which I adore). Because the homemade acrylic color spray is water based, you do have some warping effects, much like when you use glimmer mist.

I won’t lie. If they ever show up on SS or if I can find them on sale somewhere, I would probably snatch up a few more commercially made sprays. But, when you’re in a pinch and have supplies to use at home, I think these homemade color sprays are pretty fun to make. If you have other suggestions or ideas, please do share them here on the ScrapbookSteals blog or over on the Facebook page!

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Van, thank you so much for your tutorial. Like Van mentioned, if you have a great idea for a How To’sday, be it big or small, send it our way to kristy@stealnetwork.com.